Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong has reacted to the continuous absence of the Dome–Kwabenya MP, Sarah Adwoa Sarfo from Parliament. According to him, the lawmaker’s conduct is tantamount to holding the Governing NPP to ransom.
Speaking on the GTV Breakfast Show, February 21, 2022, the Assin Central MP suggested that the Gender Minister wants to be made the Deputy Majority Leader.
“She said she wants to be a Deputy Majority Leader, that woman has failed in life, a whole Cabinet Minister now demanding to be made a Deputy Majority Leader before she comes”.
Madam Adwoa Sarfo is said to have argued that there is supposed to be Gender Equality, and will therefore only support the government if she is given that role in Parliament.
Kennedy Agyapong is not the only NPP MP to raise the concern regarding Sarah Adwoa Sarfo’s continuous absence from Parliament.
New Juaben South MP, Michael Okyere Baafi has also mentioned similar concerns indicating that the Dome-Kwabenya MP is using her seat to ”blackmail” the government.
To him, even though he has children with the Member of Parliament he will not defend her for what she is doing to the party.
“Don’t think I have two kids with her and therefore I will never speak the truth even at gunpoint I will speak the truth and die”.
“Excuse me’, Parliament is not for the Apostle Kojo Sarfo. People are insulting me because I went there to campaign for her”, he said.
The absence of Adwoa Sarfo comes at a time when the Majority group in Parliament is looking to use its slight numerical advantage to pass the controversial E-Levy Bill.
A Member of Parliament who absents him or herself for 15 straight working days without permission risks losing their seats.
That is the situation Dome-Kwabenya MP, Sarah Adwoa Safo, finds herself, with sources stating that moves to declare her seat vacant will be triggered this week.
The Privileges Committee will subsequently make a determination and forward their recommendation to the Speaker. They will recommend that the seat should be declared vacant if she is deemed to have abandoned her responsibilities.
Sarah Adwoa Safo had been absent from Parliament for a while following an extension of her leave which was granted by the President.
She had become the subject of Public Debate some months ago following allegations that she was impersonated during Parliamentary proceedings on November 30, 2021 because the Majority side needed the numbers at all costs, to approve the government’s 2022 Budget, which they did despite the disapproval by the Minority side.
The controversy was deepened by the fact that videos and photos of a woman believed not to be the Dome Kwabenya MP from the proceedings in Parliament went viral on social media.
In the video, the woman was seen wearing a nose mask, leaving the Chamber right after the headcount which led to the approval of the Budget Statement.
Meanwhile, Madam Adwoa Sarfo has been away from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry as well, after President Akufo-Addo directed the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, to temporarily serve as caretaker Minister in October 2021.
